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Elite 4 vs 2 Scarfies
Write-up by Angus The boys arrived on a sunny Saturday afternoon, Rolf brought his Beamer to make the girls swoon, Turk was late with his usual parade of fans, Yet, the focus never shifted from the winning task at hand Out the gates quickly Shano was in, A cooly slid finish saw the Elite on track for a win, The Scarfies came fighting and a response was clear, Their striker lashed a volley that Kengo could not get near, One – One is the score but the Elite would not stop, Trav put in a cross which ended up being a shot! Beating the keeper the Elite’s heads were held high, Halftime came around and Rori almost made Gav cry! The Scarfies came out with a hiss and a roar, mix up at the back saw them on track for a draw, We picked up our spirits and created some good play, Trav scored again to make it two for the day, 3-2 to the Elite with 10 minutes to go, A shot from Ben went in off their players toe. 4-2 it finished a great game all round, Cold beers were shared and no one wore a frown, A valiant win by the boys in blue, Tawa Bears we are coming for you! MVP Points: 3 Levi: Huge shift in the middle of the park.. created good space and picked some lovely passes. 2 Kengo: The Elite will miss you between the sticks. Another solid game with some great distribution. 1 Tim: Always reliable at the back, covered my arse on a few occasions. Cool, calm and collected. Write-up by Travis
Elite 4 - 3 VUW Never Say Die To say that conditions were great for this game would be an understatement. Arriving at the Newtown park home field the sun was shining, the air was warm and not a breath of wind was to be found. It was a great day for football. While we were conducting the pre-game warm up it was evident that the university students were still trying to wake themselves up from the night before. Starting with 10 men, or was it 11? It seemed that this was going to be an easy win for the Elite! Straight from kick-off we had two near goals originating from the left side. A nice through ball to myself on the wing, the defender was still reminiscing about neckin’ a cold one with the boys and barely registered he was on the field. I was through! a cross to the center was looking prime for the Elite to take an early lead! The ball met Shane’s head but glanced off to the right of the goal, no worries we’ll get the next one! The next one came not two minutes later, unfortunately the defenders managed to cause enough of a nuisance that this was also thwarted. With a few more attempts to score and for no lack of trying, we were still yet to find the back of the net by the 25-minute mark. It was about this time that the reinforcements arrived for the university team. By sheer luck and against the run of play the uni students managed shake-off the stupor and score. What became very evident at this stage was that there were two key players that the Elite needed to shutdown if we were going to win this. Too late! A long through ball was sailing towards our last defender Tim. The Elite could only watch in disbelief as the charging university student managed to rattle Tim enough to cause a fumble. The Elite were scrambling back - it was futile. The uni student was already likening the back of the net to the mystery girl from last night, but this time he was going to score! The Elites recent signing of a new keeper, Kengo, meant he was going to have earn his keep! The ball was blasted with all the power a man seeking redemption can muster. Two to Nil. The Elite had mission impossible ahead of them. The University students were now fully awake and here to play. An absolute cracker of a through-ball from Isaac gave us the first opening. The Uni goalie was running to intercept, the ball was received on my left foot and re-directed to the right. “Fuck!” the Goalie realised his mistake but it was too late. The second touch off my right foot slid the ball easily into the goal, 2-1, we were back in this! The uni students were livid. Unbeknown to the Elite, one of the students took to the challenge. A series of passes meant he had the ball just outside of the Elite box. With a little too much room he rocketed the ball in the top left corner, 3-1. Devastated. Play continued with some unreal challenges from Rolf and even a pirouette that had two uni players seeing stars! Levi was consistently creating chances in the mid and giving some hope to the Elite. It was from one of these chances that a cross into the box was carried into the goal by Saji and an assortment of uni players. 3-2, the Elite knew they could draw from here! It was on that note that none other than Chris comes flying in from the right. Breaking ankles with an assortment of turns, Chris was leaving a wake of destruction. The Uni students started seeing the danger and closed in. Knowing that the he had run out of time, a wild stallion of a toe-poke was his only option. The goalie, still in shock at this primitive technique, was unable to scramble in time - 3-3! We had done it! We had managed to claw our way back to a tie! While the Uni students were throwing a tantrum to our referee Dave, Isaac came up with a plan. How about we score again? The ball was passed around the back, out to the right, and back into the center to Isaac. The Uni students were about to realise that class was still in session. With a snap of his boot Isaac was sending the boys home to nurse their sadness with a pack of diesels. Four to three. Rolf wasn’t satisfied. He needed something more tangible. A rugby league challenge which would have left Sonny Bill-Williams proud did just that! A few last-ditch attempts by the students to grab the tie were dashed with excellent goal keeping by Kengo and brilliant work in the back. The final whistle blew, the Elite had done it. MVP Points 2 – Isaac - Providing the defensive support whilst also sending crucial through balls meant that he was putting in 110% 2 – Levi – Creating an abundance of chances in the midfield and making good challenges on advancing attacking moves 1 – Rolf - Was in every challenge and winning. Installed fear in the opposition with pirouettes and shoulder charges. 1 – Shane – Causing mayhem up the front and constantly ready to run for every ball. Elite 1 - 3 SV Cina
Write up by Isaac Round Six saw the mighty Elite travel out to Lower Hutt to take on Stokes Valley CINA. The Elite were feeling confident after coming off a big win in the week prior and were sitting comfortably in second place on the table. Stokes Valley had also enjoyed a decent lead up to the game and were sitting in fourth position. In order to put pressure on the Cuddly Tawa Bears the Elite really needed to get the W. Unfortunately, as has been the tone this season the Elite struggled to get numbers together for this crucial fixture with the spine of experienced Wellington United veterans unable to lace up. Dave was up to the task and with the help of a few junior players he was able to work his magic once again to ensure that the Elite could field an eleven. Boosted with the spark of eternal youth provided by Levi, Ben, Kengo and Dan, the Elite lined up as youthful as ever. The Elite started slow with the players struggling play their usual tiki taka football on the thick native NZ bush. The usual incoherent Irish encouragement was a notable absentee as the Elite players tried to find their rhythm. A slow ball was played into the middle and like hyenas sniffing blood the Stokes Valley players pounced on the counter attack and charged towards the goal. Despite the Elites defenders putting their bodies on the line the Stokes Valley striker was able to curl one into the back of the net. Stokes Valley one - Wellington United nil. Moments later Stokes Valley were on the counter attack again when their winger charged down the right side of the pitch. The winger whipped it in to his target man and, to the surprise of everyone on the pitch apart from the Stokes Valley winger himself (an absolute screamer if you ask him), the ball landed in the top left corner of the net. Before getting a shot on goal the Elite found themselves two goals down after 25 minutes of play. As the game went on the Elite were able to get their foot on the ball and began to control the game, stretching the Stokes Valley defence from one side to the other looking for gaps in CINA’s solid defence. After beating a player, the Elites newest players linked together when Levi fired a low cross across the 18-yard box to find Ben on the edge. Ben, cool as double denim in the 90s, slotted it past the Stokes Valley keeper to bring the Elite back into the game. The rest of the half was a cagey affair with both teams creating chances. Notable mention must be given to the Elites ‘Ronaldo Rolf’ who turned the Stokes Valley centre back inside out but not even his best efforts could tie up the game for the Elite. The second half saw the Elite push hard for the equalizer and their attempts got as close as the woodwork. Credit must be given to the Stokes Valley defence who stood organised and strong all game. As impenetrable as your year 8 crush, the Elite attack just couldn’t find a way in. Deep in the 69th minute Stokes Valley beat the Elite defence with a long ball and after a silky turn their striker knocked it home to make the score 3-1. Despite showing a lot of tika in parts, and bringing on super sub Dave ‘The Brave’ Richardson (as Striker???), Stokes Valley proved too good for the Elite and were deserving winners at the end of the day. MVP Points: 2 – Kengo, a real presence in goal and without a doubt kept Wellington United in the game. 2 – Rori, despite creating confusion by having two names he proved versatile and hungry to the end. Played effective balls out from the back and demonstrated good communication. 1 – Stu, made some crucial challenges when it counted and was strong on the pill. Delivered good ball to the midfielders. 1 – Angus, big Gus brought the game to the opposition and was composed and deliberate at the back. Write-up by Stu
Elite 6 – 1 Mooseknuckles Elite faced up against the struggling Mooseknuckles on Saturday at Newtown Park 2 hoping to continue our strong start to the season. Fielding a full team continues to be a struggle for us this season but we managed to pull together a strong starting line up with Damo taking another one for the team and helping us out in goal and Chris jumping in on the right side of defense. The game started slowly with the Elite controlling most of the possession and the mooseknuckles content on sitting back and catching us on the fast break. We continued to move the ball around nicely and out from the back showing more composure on the smaller pitch. Possession and pressure finally paid off when Tim broke the deadlock midway through the first half. The Mooseknuckles pulled one back with a scrappy goal and we went in to the break 1-1 feeling as though we should have done better. The second half started slowly for us as the Mooseknuckles pressed us. Decs then pulled out one of his signature sprays to fire the boys up, we then began to move the ball around a lot better and run the other team around forcing a couple of great saves out of their keeper with a couple of great strikes from Shane up top. Pressure continued to mount, and we forced a couple of corners. Then came the decisive moment a left foot screamer by Stu- he expertly latched on to a downward header from Shane and managed to hold of the keeper whilst turning and emphatically dispatched into the bottom corner a real strikers finish, easily a contender for goal of the season. This goal then opened the floodgates and we proceeded to dominate as Turk, Shane and Isaac all chipped in. We could have had more goals with a couple of great strikes by Rolf & Shane both hitting the woodwork. The away team seemed to throw in the towel late in the second half which allowed for some free-flowing football and a few more chances. Overall a great performance by the Elite but we should not get complacent going into next week’s away fixture. Positives to take away from Saturday was the great ball movement and positioning of the team we managed to keep our shape right up until 90 mins which showed we were focused and not content for the game to become a free for all. Negatives, we were caught on the break a couple of times with some route one football and there was some slack marking during the first half but luckily, they were not clinical enough to make us pay. Special mention has to be made to Damo and Chris for filling in and Dave stepping up to ref again. MVP Points Tough this week with the big win 3 – Tim – Stuck to his defensive duties all game whilst still managing to get forward and be a threat in front of goal. 2 – Isaac – Composed on the ball, distribution was clinical and a great finish for the goal. 1 – Shane – Was a great outlet up top, came deep to get the ball and always challenged well in the air. |
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August 2018
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